Aufholende Entwicklung?

For
a long time left-leaning theorists had argued that the difference between the
countries of the North and the South would increase steadily, that the
countries of the capitalist periphery could never catch up economically with
the countries of the capitalist core zone.

This
left underdevelopment theory is refuted by the facts. Nevertheless, the results
are contradictory. Compared to the USA, southern Europe and above all Southeast
Asia have caught up economically. Southern Europe reached over 50% of US living
standards in 2010, Southeast Asia 40%. Latin America in general has lost ground
like sub-Saharan Africa.